Trump White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway interrupted a gaggle with reporters to call out Playboy White House correspondent and CNN analystBrian Karem for comments Karem made in defense of Jim Acosta, accusing him of lying to gain favor with the network.

On Monday morning, Conway spoke with reporters on the driveway to the West Wing, and as Karem questioned her about border security, Conway went off on a tangent.

“I see I’m no longer your favorite person in the White House, which you said for such a long time,” Conway said, adding “That’ll keep you on your cable network.”

Karem laughed and said “You know you are.”

“Then you shouldn’t lie on Twitter,” Conway said.

“You all shouldn’t lie on Twitter,” Karem shot back.

Conway’s apparent sensitivity is ironic, given that she’s calling back to an incident that occurred last week in which she called Jim Acosta a “smart-ass” and claimed that “most of the people here don’t like you.”

Karem responded to that exchange by tweeting a defense of Acosta that included the claim that “Very few people like [Kellyanne Conway]”

1. We are not there to be liked. We are there to do a job. 2. Very few people like ⁦@KellyannePolls⁩ 3. I am proud to call ⁦@Acosta⁩ my friend. 4. Many find the entire administration to be the opposite of “smart ass.” https://t.co/qRMPAAcZp4

In fairness to Karem, both things can be true: a White House reporter can have a “favorite” official without actually “liking” them. My “favorite” Obama press secretary was Robert Gibbs, mainly because he was the least-disciplined and most likely to deliver a newsworthy quote, while Josh Earnest and Jay Carney mostly stuck to the briefing book. But Gibbs was also the most likely to cuss you out.

And during the Trump administration, figures like Conway, Sean Spicer, and Sarah Huckabee Sanders have been reliable sources of blockbuster quotes about invented terrorist attacks, alternate Hitler histories, and doctored videos, to name a few. None of this has to do with “liking” these officials.

If there is a silver lining, though, it’s that perhaps Conway’s newfound sensitivity will prevail the next time she considers threatening to perform an abortion on someone “with a gun.”

Watch the clip above, via C-Span.

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